First post here, i was wondering if any of you buy your pet products online or do you go straight to pet shop?
Thanks
Pet Shops
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Depends - my local pet store keep animals in atrocious conditions so i dont shop there at all.
As i make leather goods myself i dont buy dog leads and collars at all i make them all myself, so i cant comment there.
Other stuff, such as toys, i buy where they have good deals, online or offline, and i try to buy from ethical companies. For instance, i wont buy anything from shops selling e-collars.
As i make leather goods myself i dont buy dog leads and collars at all i make them all myself, so i cant comment there.
Other stuff, such as toys, i buy where they have good deals, online or offline, and i try to buy from ethical companies. For instance, i wont buy anything from shops selling e-collars.
Oooh how do you make them yourself? That sounds fun and crafty! Are you able to give instructions (or direct me to a web site that has them)
thanks
And thanks for all the hints on training, I took my two out seperately last night for a 20min training session each and they loved it! They were that excited by it that they play fought for the rest of the night (and have a few new scars but they seem to think it worth it). Am looking forward to taking them out again.
thanks
And thanks for all the hints on training, I took my two out seperately last night for a 20min training session each and they loved it! They were that excited by it that they play fought for the rest of the night (and have a few new scars but they seem to think it worth it). Am looking forward to taking them out again.
Owner of two big (30kg each) puppies and one wee cat :)
Hehee - i took a course in traditional leather work and saddlery skills a couple of years ago, so my day job is making fancy collars and leads for very posh hounds, as well as bridles, martingales, headcollars etc for horsey people.
Theres a little bit on my site which you can get to via teh www link under my post, showing how its done.
Its not really something you can learn from home self taught, although a lot of the things i now do are self taught, you have to be shown the basic skills and then have some natural talent at it, leather is rather unforgiving if you get it wrong, and the tools are extremely unforgiving being either stupidly sharp or stupidly sharp AND pointy....
(i have a fair few scars!)
Its a great little business but its hard work sitting hand sewing leather for hour after hour (a dog collar with a full lining so stitched all the way round takes up to four hours to sew, more if its very large or has extra stitched detail), and unless you have access to a store that will sell small quantities of leather, you struggle to do it as a hobby, its hard even as a small business.
Fortunately here in the uk there is a supplier who will sell small quantities of leather to businesses like my own...... even so, a half butt (thats half the back of the flat hide) costs from £90 to £120 depending on the colour and thickness (can be got cheaper but you pay for quality and i refuse to waste my time sewing up poor quality leather).
There are cheaper cuts of leather as well, such as shoulder and belly but it is a false economy to use these as whilst they look nice new, they stretch a lot and show their quality very quickly - id not have return customers if i used those!
The tools are also very expensive, they are produced in the same way they were made 100's of years ago and are hand finished, so dont come cheap, and its an area where you cant really make do with tools designed for a different job - some of my knives cost £40 or more and the machine i use to split leather to a thinner weight is nearly £400 (machine sounds very technical, its not! its a hand operated set of blades and rollers but its all cast iron and brass......lovely thing!)
I dont really know of any websites that can teach you, i know i looked in vain and i found a few that show you how to work leahter the American way, but that is quite different to the English way.
I think thats because american leather is different, the tanning processes are different and results in tougher, but much coarser heavier leather and a much rougher finish. It is for that reason that tooled leather with patterning all over it became so popular in the US, as it hides the poor quality grain of the leather (which comes from the rougher lifestyle the animal leads and the less refined tanning and currying process the leahter goes through).
Sorry i could waffle on about leather work for days! I count myself extremely lucky that i can make something of a living (not an extravagant one
) from a traditional craft i really enjoy!
Glad to hear your dogs are enjoying their 'work'
Em
Theres a little bit on my site which you can get to via teh www link under my post, showing how its done.
Its not really something you can learn from home self taught, although a lot of the things i now do are self taught, you have to be shown the basic skills and then have some natural talent at it, leather is rather unforgiving if you get it wrong, and the tools are extremely unforgiving being either stupidly sharp or stupidly sharp AND pointy....
(i have a fair few scars!)
Its a great little business but its hard work sitting hand sewing leather for hour after hour (a dog collar with a full lining so stitched all the way round takes up to four hours to sew, more if its very large or has extra stitched detail), and unless you have access to a store that will sell small quantities of leather, you struggle to do it as a hobby, its hard even as a small business.
Fortunately here in the uk there is a supplier who will sell small quantities of leather to businesses like my own...... even so, a half butt (thats half the back of the flat hide) costs from £90 to £120 depending on the colour and thickness (can be got cheaper but you pay for quality and i refuse to waste my time sewing up poor quality leather).
There are cheaper cuts of leather as well, such as shoulder and belly but it is a false economy to use these as whilst they look nice new, they stretch a lot and show their quality very quickly - id not have return customers if i used those!
The tools are also very expensive, they are produced in the same way they were made 100's of years ago and are hand finished, so dont come cheap, and its an area where you cant really make do with tools designed for a different job - some of my knives cost £40 or more and the machine i use to split leather to a thinner weight is nearly £400 (machine sounds very technical, its not! its a hand operated set of blades and rollers but its all cast iron and brass......lovely thing!)
I dont really know of any websites that can teach you, i know i looked in vain and i found a few that show you how to work leahter the American way, but that is quite different to the English way.
I think thats because american leather is different, the tanning processes are different and results in tougher, but much coarser heavier leather and a much rougher finish. It is for that reason that tooled leather with patterning all over it became so popular in the US, as it hides the poor quality grain of the leather (which comes from the rougher lifestyle the animal leads and the less refined tanning and currying process the leahter goes through).
Sorry i could waffle on about leather work for days! I count myself extremely lucky that i can make something of a living (not an extravagant one
) from a traditional craft i really enjoy!Glad to hear your dogs are enjoying their 'work'
Em
hi
this is not doggy but owell
Have you got any photos of your headcollars i ride a lovely light bay 13.2hh called rockey
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193 ... C00743.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193 ... C00747.jpg
this is not doggy but owell
Have you got any photos of your headcollars i ride a lovely light bay 13.2hh called rockey
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193 ... C00743.jpg
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w193 ... C00747.jpg
I havent at the moment, but at the end of the week ill have piccies of an extremely bling purple and black bridle with crystals on the browband that im making for someones Arab mare.
Rockys cute, he reminds me of a Exmoor/Dartmoor x i used to ride when i was 12, he was called Pedro and used to stand on peoples feet on purpose and then pretend to be asleep!
Rockys cute, he reminds me of a Exmoor/Dartmoor x i used to ride when i was 12, he was called Pedro and used to stand on peoples feet on purpose and then pretend to be asleep!
well rockey loves jumping ,hacking and playing ponygames and the headcollar that you can see is mine and i dont no his breed but i no he is a lovely but fast little pony and if i could loan him i would put his to popular with kids but he a got a bad side as he has to were a daisy rein so he does not buck people of and i have him for pony camp
we only buy from pet shops that DONT sell animals, i mean except fish.. but if they sell dogs or cats or rabbits etc we wont support them, you should check out this site
www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com
I know you posted this a while ago, but i'm new and i wanted to reply
cheers.
www.saynotoanimalsinpetshops.com
I know you posted this a while ago, but i'm new and i wanted to reply
cheers.
